Friday, November 14, 2014

Flint Hill, '64 Chapter 2: In Which Our Heroine Sleeps Very Little and Cooks A Lot

Read Chapter One here.

We left our brave heroine recovering from a battle with a mattress tick. After my embarrassing trip back and forth between Kieffer and Jones, I waited some more for the Craigs to arrive and then decided to bank the fires and head over to Hosmer's, where I knew there would be people to keep me company, as I was getting lonely in that cold, dark house.

The Craigs arrived, I guided them back to Jones farm, and then they left to get dinner. I lay down on my defeated bed to have a little nap until it came time for the Meet 'n Greet in Thomson Tavern. With everyone having met and my employers back in the village, everyone headed to their temporary homes. I decided it was time for bed and was encouraged to lounge luxuriously (while I had the chance) while the Craigs moved in their belongings.

With a chilly house and my own paranoia that the fire would go out and we would all suffer, I slept in short bursts and frequently found myself trying to quietly sustain the fire. Around 4:30 in the morning I was forced to restart it entirely and it responded angrily by being the crackliest, brightest, most obnoxious fire it could be. Mr. and Mrs. Craig's twin children slept in front of the fire near me and I threw telepathic daggers at the fire for risking waking them. I lay in bed, feeling very restless, for another half hour and then gave up and got up to get dressed and start the day.

I lit the fire in the stove, hauled wood, hauled water, heated water for washing faces and for washing dishes later, read the entire volume of the American Frugal Housewife that was in the kitchen, and started up breakfast. I had intended to make waffles, but had no waffle receipt handy and tried to make do with using a tweaked variation of pancake batter. HA! Not a chance! So we had pancakes and bacon. I burned the bacon. Quite the start, right?

Mrs. Craig and I went for a walk down to Kieffer to get cheese for the macaroni pudding I was making for lunch and then I mixed up a tin of cider cake for the Aid Society tea the next day. The macaroni pudding went over very well, although the water decided to be cruel and took ages to boil (The biggest downfall of a cast iron stove, even with a lid on it and the burner cover removed). The cider cake baked and then I made cottage tea cakes, which are like mashed potato hash browns, to bring along with my Indian pudding to the get-together at Hosmer's Inn that evening. We were meant to bake some squashes as well but they had done nothing at all when the time came for us to head to the inn. I was really batting a thousand.

Dinner was good and the entertainments were wonderful! We heard a very nice recitation of the Lady of Shalott, I got over-enthusiastic when I correctly solved a riddle and then was stumped when the others were read out, we played a game with conversation cards (a row of men and a row of ladies sit opposite each other. Each man reads a "question" card, the lady opposite reads the "answer" on her card, the cards are moved to the back of the deck and passed on to the next pair. They were very flirty cards and I was awkwardly paired with my boss at one point. I told him we should just be friends, since he was my boss), and read a parlor play. I also had the opportunity to play a doll-sized version of the Checkered Game of Life with Miss Craig and Miss O'Byrne, who whupped me very soundly. The game is similar to the modern game of Life, but centered around morals and the impacts of one's choices. At one point, I was forced to choose between poverty and suicide. I ended the game with 15 points, while the girls tied with 25 each. I think I might like to find a people-sized version of the game, it was very fun to play, although difficult by candlelight.

After the evening's entertainment, we all went to bed. This time the house was much warmer!

Read on for the final installment of our adventures!

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